Returning to the present.
"As a joy of our long-awaited reunion, let's order the same dishes for every guest in this shop, as a small celebration."
Lin Wei unceremoniously ticked off the entire thick menu with a dense array of small checkmarks, then casually stuffed it into Rita's arms, "inquiring" with a polite yet courteous tone and a smile,
"Just put it on the Schicksal Overseer's tab. I don't think he'd mind helping others fulfill their wishes, right?"
He acted as if he were truly ordering Rita around like a waiter.
"If Mr. Lin Wei wishes, I don't think Lord Overseer would mind."
Rita was already prepared for Lin Wei's terrible attitude. Therefore, she wasn't annoyed or angry. Instead, she maintained her usual smile and even patiently reminded him,
"But, to serve so many dishes at once, wouldn't it be a waste if they can't be finished?"
As a high-quality talent, although she didn't particularly advocate for frugality, she couldn't stand such a blatant and deliberate act of wastefulness.
"Oh, that's true."
Lin Wei had a sudden realization. Then he took the menu back from Rita, marked two large words on it, "Takeout," and then, with a beaming face, stuffed it back into Rita's hands.
"This should do it."
"..."
Lin Wei's undisguised mockery was clearly felt even by Yuno at the side.
"Alright, please wait a moment."
Rita's expression management had always been perfect. Even when treated like this, she still maintained a proper smile. Like a real maid, she bowed slightly, then stepped back and left, truthfully relaying the menu and Lin Wei's request to the front desk.
As Rita had expected, it immediately caused a commotion. If Rita hadn't paid a sufficient amount in time, everyone from the owner to the staff would probably have thought some troublemaker was causing a scene.
Even though the misunderstanding was promptly cleared up by Rita, the entire shop fell into another kind of chaos and frenzy—there were too many orders! If you're going to play this big, can't you make a reservation in advance?
"If you're really too busy, I can continue to serve the guests at that table."
Seeing the other male and female waiters looking like they were about to crack, Rita, like a real waitress, said with a smile,
"As for the rest, I'll have to trouble you all."
"No trouble, no trouble at all!"
Hearing someone say this, the other waiters quickly shouted in unison,
"Compared to our small matter of running around, a guest who is both rich and has a strange temper like the one just now is the real trouble!"
After the frenzy of the huge order had passed,
"By the way, who is this short-haired girl? Do we have such a waitress in our shop?"
Amidst the frenzy, one of the female waiters seemed to have suddenly realized something and muttered, staring at Rita's back,
"Strange, do we have this short-haired girl in our shop? She's so beautiful, how come I have no impression of her at all?"
"Who knows? Maybe she's new."
A colleague next to her nudged her with an elbow.
"Stop dawdling, get to work!"
Everyone's about to die from being so busy, and you still have the mind to think about these trivial things?
"Oh oh oh, coming, coming!"
The girl woke up as if from a dream, then, with a pained expression, went to deal with the mountain of sudden orders...
"Doing this, isn't it a bit too much?"
Yuno, from a distance, also noticed the sudden "uproar" in the shop and couldn't help but ask.
She had never seen Rita treated so unfairly—although the number of times she could see Rita at headquarters could be counted on one hand.
"Too much? It's just a small matter. This can't be considered too much."
Lin Wei smiled faintly, looking at the gracefully returning Rita, and said in a rather polite tone,
"Don't you agree, Miss Rita?"
"Miss Yuno is right. This is indeed a bit too much."
Rita's posture was still elegant, the smile on her face still present.
"Every time I see Mr. Lin Wei, Rita is always severely troubled by you like today..."
Her tone was slightly plaintive, like an innocent girl pouring out her grievances, making one's heart flutter. But Lin Wei wouldn't fall for this at all. He just said with a smile,
"Troubled? Hehe... As for Miss Rita herself, I am of course extremely welcoming. After all, you and I have had a period of pure companionship. I still have this friendship and courtesy."
Then his tone changed, and his originally gentle gaze became scrutinizing.
"But as for that Overseer Otto's representative... hehe, I think it's better not to mix in those unnecessary things, so as not to make things difficult for each other, don't you think?"
As he spoke unhurriedly, he nonchalantly toyed with the recovered cane, the meaning of which was self-evident:
Rita coming here with such "sincerity" was not to see him, her old friend. Since that was the case, it was better to be business-like—Lin Wei had always been too lazy to give a good face to Otto's avatar.
"...Mr. Lin Wei is so frank, it really makes Rita ashamed. Since that's the case..."
Rita sighed slightly. The usual smile on her face had also disappeared at some point. She looked at Lin Wei with an indescribably complex expression and asked in a low voice,
"You had already successfully left Schicksal's sight. You could have clearly remained hidden, just like you did in Singapore. Why did you have to appear here in such a way?"
At this moment, she was truly speaking as "Rita Rossweisse," as Lin Wei had said, not as that Palatinus Equinox under Otto.
In fact, besides Overseer Otto and his loyal assistant, almost everyone in Schicksal who knew the situation was unwilling to truly be enemies with Lin Wei.
"As long as you don't take the initiative to show yourself, whether it's me or Lady Durandal, we can all pretend not to see. We can be strangers from now on. Even if we meet by chance, we can pass by like strangers. Wouldn't that be better?"
Rita thought, both annoyed and regretful. Annoyed at Lin Wei's lack of sense, and regretful for her own cleverness.
If time could be turned back, if she could have known the current outcome in advance, she wouldn't have been so insistent on arresting Lin Wei back in Singapore. She would have just quietly torn out that page and let it go, and then the subsequent events wouldn't have happened.
But unfortunately, no one can predict the future.
And no one could have imagined that he would end up in such a state of fire and water with Overseer Otto...
There are no "ifs" in the world, only results, and the consequences that must be borne—due to their different duties and positions, since things had inevitably come to this point, no matter how difficult or unwilling, they had no choice.
Therefore, Lin Wei's disappearance was what almost everyone, except Otto, wanted to see.
In fact, when Schicksal detected the overly abrupt communication of the Holy Flame in Egypt, Rita, who had a similar experience in Singapore, suspected Lin Wei almost immediately.
But the reason she rushed over was not complicated either. It was just to find Lin Wei before Otto did, and tell him to go back where he came from, and stop loitering under Schicksal's nose!
But who knew, Rita was already very fast, but someone was faster—that Valkyrie named Susannah, with one careless action, directly poked a hole in the sky. And so, it was really too late to say anything.
At this, Rita could only sigh helplessly, and then, as a Schicksal Valkyrie, contact and report to Overseer Otto...
"...Miss Rita is also very frank. It is I who should be ashamed."
The information implied in Rita's seemingly casual sentence made Lin Wei pause for a moment. After silently mulling it over, he smiled with some helplessness and said,
"It was just a matter of chance back then. There's no need to be like this."
What the Manila Honkai Eruption really meant, Lin Wei hadn't had a very direct feeling before. After all, he had always been detached from everyone, coming and going in a hurry.
Including the grand "welcome" at Schicksal Headquarters, Lin Wei had always thought it was just a deliberate arrangement by Otto to "create an atmosphere."
But Susannah, whom he had never met before, could be so enthusiastic towards him, and now Rita, who from any angle should be Otto's loyal dog, had such a subtle attitude towards him, it made him realize for the first time just how much weight one of his unintentional actions had.
"..."
Rita was silent for a moment but didn't say much more, just sighed softly.
"A praying mantis trying to stop a chariot, an ant trying to shake a tree... Mr. Lin Wei seems to really enjoy doing these incomprehensible things..."
"A praying mantis trying to stop a chariot, an ant trying to shake a tree? How can you say it's so pitiful?"
Lin Wei smiled.
"Don't forget, I have the Key of Corruption. If things really get out of hand, your Schicksal might not be able to get away with it either."
"If the Key of Corruption fell into the hands of others, it would naturally be a huge hidden danger that could threaten the entire human civilization. But fortunately, it fell into the hands of Mr. Lin Wei."
Rita also smiled faintly, unconcerned by Lin Wei's threat.
"After all, back then at Schicksal Headquarters, with such a good opportunity, didn't Mr. Lin Wei not do anything dangerous?"
"Hehe, Miss Rita praises me too much. Don't forget, I did do some dangerous things back then—that Honkai energy fission bomb, with Miss Rita's intelligence, you wouldn't be unaware of the truth, right?"
Lin Wei sneered.
"A person who can make Overseer Otto hold such a grudge, do you think I'm a good person?"
Rita smiled strangely but didn't say much more.
After all, compared to a Honkai energy fission bomb that didn't cause any actual damage, the fact that Lin Wei could have done more, more dangerous things but didn't, was more important.
Seeing this, Lin Wei pursed his lips but was too lazy to explain further.
He admitted that when forced into a corner, he would indeed do many dangerous things that even he couldn't predict. But before that, his use of the Key of Corruption had indeed been extremely restrained, almost to the point of tying his own hands.
But thinking about it later, it was precisely this "foolish act" of tying his own hands that had instead given Lin Wei ample freedom...
A very heart-piercing question: is it right and proper for a person to run around with the Key of Corruption?
The answer is obviously no.
From a rigorous perspective, given the devastating threat of the Corruption authority to civilization itself, destroying it in its cradle before it could cause irreparable disaster, even at a huge loss, was the top priority for all rational people.
After all, no one wants to live in a world with such a dangerous bomb...
But whether it was the Flame-Chasers in the Elysian Realm who had witnessed many strange births and deaths, or the real-world World Serpent, Anti-Entropy, and even Schicksal, almost everyone acquiesced to Lin Wei's ownership of this special Divine Key.
This was not only because it was Lin Wei's spoil of war, but more so because the unanimous result of almost everyone's observation and scrutiny of Lin Wei was that he was indeed the most suitable owner of this Divine Key.
A previously highly uncontrollable Divine Key had become so controllable in Lin Wei's hands—therefore, maintaining the status quo, letting him continue to hold this Divine Key, was the "greatest common divisor" acceptable to all who did not want to change the status quo.
Otherwise, if anyone else were the holder of the Key of Corruption, it would probably inevitably lead to a violent conflict or even a war due to old grudges or lack of trust...
At the very beginning, Lin Wei hadn't thought so much. He just didn't want to be a ridiculous monkey with his finger on the trigger, eager to empty all the bullets. He believed that "holding back but not firing" was the most intimidating deterrent.
But when he later realized this unintended possibility, he was naturally happy to continue maintaining such a tacit understanding. This was also one of the important reasons why he could still remain detached from the major organizations.
Of course, "tying his own hands" didn't mean "cutting off his own arms."
Ultimately, it was just that Lin Wei himself was unwilling to do things that were too drastic, not that he was coerced and swept along by others' gazes and expectations, and thus had to give up the right to use it.
"Does Miss Rita think that because of these few simple words, I will willingly give up using the Key of Corruption, and even obediently offer my neck to be slaughtered?"
Lin Wei gently caressed the warm cane in his hand, not knowing if he was stroking the Pandora covering its surface, or the demonic sword wrapped within, and smiled.
"The matter in Manila was just a matter of chance. I was just acting on a whim back then. If Miss Rita thinks I'm some so-called hero because of this, then there's really no need. Otherwise, if you have any high expectations of me, Miss Rita might be very disappointed."
"To be honest with Mr. Lin Wei, Rita is already very disappointed now."
Rita said in an inscrutable tone.
"To so boldly provoke Schicksal, besides further enraging the Overseer and putting yourself in this dangerous situation, I really don't think it's a brave act worthy of praise. On the contrary, it only makes one feel reckless and ridiculous."